People who spend a significant amount of time sitting, particularly those who are confined to wheelchairs need a comfortable, safe, supportive and adaptable seating system to improve their quality of life. An uncomfortable seat can cause a wheelchair occupant to become anxious or agitated, which will correspondingly reduce quality of life. Such patients may move around considerably in an effort to become comfortable, which could lead to poor posture and eventual spinal problems. The result of such movement can also cause difficulty breathing.
Additionally, patients who require the almost constant use a wheelchair may have impaired sensation in the area of contact with a seating system or may be unable to shift their weight due to one of the following diagnoses: spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegia or paraplegia, other spinal cord disease, multiple sclerosis, other demyelinating disease, cerebral palsy, anterior horn cell diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, post polio paralysis, brain injury resulting in quadriplegia, spina bifida, childhood cerebral degeneration, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease. For these people, it is imperative that the seating system relieve pressure on the patient's body, particularly over bony prominences. Failure of a seating system to adequately relieve pressure may result in the formation of life threatening decubitus ulcers as the skin and muscle breaks down over bony prominences.
Additionally, seating systems need to provide a balance between support for the patient and restriction of the patient's daily activities. For example, if the patient has difficulty sitting due to problems with controlling motion, weakness in one part of the body or muscle spasticity, the seating system should provide enough support to allow the patient to feel safe and secure in his/her posture. Too much support may hinder a patient's function and quality of life, restricting the patient's ability to eat, dress, work, learn, communicate and get around in the wheelchair. Too little support and the patient may attempt to “fix” his/her own posture. Sometimes, posture “fixing” can lead to contractures and deformities such as kyphosis or scoliosis and can hinder blood flow, digestion and breathing.
The seating system needs to be adaptable to the changing needs of the patient. Pediatric patients grow. Patients of all ages gain and lose weight. Patient's health conditions change over time. Additionally, patients are generally routinely reevaluated to ensure continued progress. To the extent that such progress, or lack thereof, dictates that changes be made to a patient's seating system, a seating system should be adaptable to accommodate the changing needs of the patient.